Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) is a simple file transfer protocol that operates in a lock step fashion. That is, each packet is acknowledged by a receiving client and the server does not transmit the subsequent packet until the acknowledgement is received for the previous packet. One embodiment of TFTP is described formally in Request for Comments (RFC) 1350, Rev. 2, published July 1992. Because of simplicity, TFTP is used in pre-boot environments and/or embedded systems. Typical usage may include download of an operating system loader or upgrading of a system image or BIOS.
However, as file sizes increase and/or packets are lost during transmission, the performance provided by TFTP may be unacceptable because large file sizes and repeated transmission of packets may overload network infrastructure components. Thus, TFTP may be insufficient for more complex file download conditions.